A FURTHER 763 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has said this evening.

In a statement, it said that a further 28 people confirmed to have Covid-19 have died.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 4,109, and the total number of confirmed cases is now at 213,400.

Of the cases notified today:

• 370 are men,388 are women
• 72% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 30 years old
• 251 cases are in Dublin, 84 are in Galway, 57 are in Kildare, 47 are in Limerick, 42 are in Waterford and the remaining 282 cases are spread across all other counties

As of 8am today, 754 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 151 are in ICU. There have been 46 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours. 

At last night’s NPHET briefing, public health officials that while the numbers are continuing to go in the right direction, progress in suppressing Covid-19 is slowing down.

Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said that this is likely due to the increased prevalence of the UK B117 variant, which he said is now 90% of all Covid-19 cases in Ireland.

Previously in a letter to government last Thursday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn had expected case numbers to be between 300 and 100 a day in mid-March.

According to Nolan, modelling now shows that case numbers are expected to fall between 400 and 500 cases per day at the beginning of March, then falling to between 200 and 350 in the middle of March, if the reproduction number can be kept between 0.7 and 0.9.

As of 16 February, 293,752 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Ireland. A total of 187,893 people have received their first dose and 105,859 people have received their second dose. 

“The past year has been very difficult for people and we still have a way to go. Incidence remains very high and we cannot drop our guard,” Dr Ronan Glynn said this evening. 

“But better days are in sight. People continue to respond to public health advice and act in solidarity with one another. We have a dedicated and committed health workforce and we are learning more about this disease all the time. We now have three very safe and effective vaccines being rolled out and supply should increase very substantially over the coming weeks,” he said. 

“Please continue in your efforts as we seek to ensure that as many people as possible can benefit from vaccination.”

With reporting by Sean Murray